The following gives the number of tables sold during each of the last four months by a furniture store. Month Tables Sold May 40 June 36 July 34 August 42

a. Using a four-period weighted moving average, with weights w1 = .5, w2 = .2, w3 = .2 and w4 = .1, forecast the number of tables to be sold in September.

b. Using a three-period simple moving average, forecast the number of tables to be sold in September.

c. Using simple exponential smoothing with an initial forecast for June of 36 and smoothing constant = 0.2, forecast the number of tables to be sold in September. If you also had to make a forecast for October (two months from now), what would it be?

d. Which of the forecasting methods used in part (b) and part (c) above will be more responsive to changes in demand?